Since the dawn of the new millennium, the television industry has witnessed unprecedented changes. Across globe, governments have started to shift towards digital terrestrial from analog signals, mobile and high-definition TV became a reality for consumers, and television viewers preferred hundreds of channels instead of limited number of channels. With change in television era, viewers and their demands have also changed and service providers are increasingly facing tech-savvy, sophisticated audience who want high definition pictures, multiple channels, surround sound, and PVR functionality. Though video over Internet has been in progress since the past few years, advancements in efficient delivery of higher resolution and longer length videos are among the most notable developments in the field of Internet TV. Consisting of only a limited number of television stations available during the initial development phase, Internet Television industry has grown by leaps and bounds with the availability of countless number of stations. As a global trend, viewership for Live TV or on-demand television service is catching up among younger generation. Merging together hardware, software and multimedia content will form major differentiating strategies for the vendors. With more consumers discarding their traditional TV sets and endorsing the idea of viewing the video content online, Internet TV is expected to become the part of mass market.

As the popularity of Internet TV continues to grow among increasing number of audience, the bandwidth capacity of existing networks is also set to rise. “Internetization” of increasingly large number of consumer electronic devices including DVD players, TVs, iPods, portable gadgets and game consoles will reduce the dependency of computers to use Internet TV. This will prop up the market for Internet-enabled TVs across the globe. Entry of Internet-enabled TVs in the mainstream consumer electronics market is guided by their in-built capabilities, which allow immediate access to a wide range of online content on the TV.

Demand for Internet-based TVs is set to surge over the next few years as running the widgets (simple and small applications) through TV is becoming more popular among viewers. Currently utilized in computers and mobile phones, widgets in the TV sets will enable access to the Internet content for TV viewing on selective basis such as information on weather forecast and online purchase of advertised products. Demand for content variety with capability of anytime access is also leading to the growth of Internet-enabled TVs, which promise to fulfill user needs with seamless viewing experience. Internet is also offering new advertising options that provide an improved return-on-investment to prospective customers of streaming solutions. The last decade proved particularly crucial in revolutionizing the competitive setting with the privatization of telecommunications sector. The enormous success achieved by Internet industry and the cellular technology stirred new entrants into the market. Presently, the industry is again undergoing vital structural changes with ongoing convergence of technologies, devices, networks and content, basically over the IP networks. Advancements in multimedia services have brought telecom, IT, consumer electronics and media & entertainment sectors closer. Convergence would be soon possible, as customers can access any application, any content virtually from anywhere over a range of networks using any device

The United States and Europe represent two of the largest markets for Internet Television, as stated by the new research report on Internet TV. The European market draws strength from the traditionally strong markets of France, Germany and UK, in addition to fast growing countries of Russia, Italy, Spain and other Eastern European markets. On the global front, Asia-Pacific is set to literally trail blaze ahead at the highest compounded annual growth rate of a robust 59% through 2017.

Key participants profiled in the report include AOL, Inc., BT Group Plc, Boxee, Inc., Channel 5, BBC, Cable News Network [CNN], China Telecom Corporation Limited, Comcast Corporation, NBC Universal, Channel 4, Fox News Channel, Google TV, Hulu, Microsoft Corporation, Raidió Teilifís Éireann, SKY, Swarmcast, Vivendi SA and Canal+ Group.

The research report titled “Internet TV: A Global Strategic Business Report” announced by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., provides a comprehensive review of industry overview, issues & trends, Internet-enabled TV market, service overview, recent industry activity and profiles of market players worldwide. Analysis is provided in value (US$) terms for major geographic markets such as US, Canada, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of World.